21 Best Family and Kids Movies on Netflix Right Now

Here are the best family movies that are currently available to stream on Netflix. We’ve even included some honorable mentions.

This list is updated regularly, as titles come and go from Netflix.

Sergio Pablos‘ critically acclaimed 2D-animated family comedy centers on a postman who dashes through the snow with the world’s most famous toymaker.

Winner of the BAFTA and Annie Awards for Best Animated Feature. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, the first Netflix original nominated in this category (though it lost to Toy Story 4).

Based on 2007 children’s book The True Meaning of Smekday, Dreamworks and Fox’s animated feature is a space-set adventure starring the voice talents of Rihanna, Steve Martin, Jim Parsons and Jennifer Lopez. Tim Johnson of Antz directs.

Spy Kids helmer Robert Rodriguez wrote and directed this Netflix original family-friendly superhero movie, a follow-up to The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3D. The picture received a mostly warm reception from critics, and broke all kinds of viewership records for Netflix. A sequel has been announced.

Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown stars in this critically acclaimed Netflix exclusive based on the popular YA series by Nancy Springer. Brown plays the younger sister of Britain’s most famous detective; Sam Claflin, Henry Cavill and Helena Bonham Carter appear in supporting roles. Originally planned as a Warner Bros. theatrical release, Enola Holmes was bought and redistributed for streaming in light of the coronavirus pandemic. A sequel is also now streaming. 

First of all, it’s important to note that, visually, Guillermo Del Toro‘s Pinocchio is as breathtakingly beautiful as Disney’s live-action remake earlier in the year was garish and ugly. That’s quite a feat. Also, the entire voice cast, including a sparkling Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Cate Blanchett, Christoph Waltz, Harry Potter‘s David Bradley and relative newcomer Gregory Mann, all must be commended for bringing stellar puppetry to another dimension. 

Malin Akerman and Joe Manganiello star in this family-friendly Netflix original, about tween siblings who discover their seemingly normal mom is actually a badass in the witness protection program. The action comedy was directed by Trish She with a screenplay by Sarah Rothschild. The Sleepover was a bona fide hit for Netflix, one of the top programs on the service upon release.

Always-luminous Jennifer Garner elevates Miguel Arteta’s family comedy about parents who give their kids 24 hours to make the house rules. A sequel is on the way.

In this Netflix original, Kurt Russell is an uncommonly cool, handsome and wise-talking Santa Claus, who helps a brother and sister (Judah Lewis and Darby Camp) rediscover the magic of Christmas after the loss of their father. The Christmas Chronicles was directed by Clay Kaytis (The Angry Birds Movie), and produced by Chris Columbus (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone). The big draw here is Russell’s performance, and he does not disappoint. This isn’t really like any Santa you’ve seen before.

In the sequel to the 2018 hit, Santa is reunited with the Pierce kids as they take on an adversary who threatens to ruin Christmas for the whole world. The biggest draw here? Russell’s real-life love interest Goldie Hawn comes out of semi-retirement to join the cast as Mrs. Claus. Count us in!

Oscar-winning Disney animation legend Glen Keane’s 3D animated sci-fi musical follows a young girl who builds a rocket to meet a mythical goddess on the moon. Over the Moon is a likely contender for a Best Animated Feature Oscar nod.

Emma Thompson and No Time to Die‘s Lashana Lynch star in Netflix’s splashy, funny adaptation of the stage show based on Roald Dahl’s book about an unappreciated schoolgirl with telekinetic abilities. 

Legendary director Michael Curtiz helmed several of the most noteworthy films of Hollywood’s Golden Age, including The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Casablanca (1942), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Mildred Pierce (1945) and this essential Christmas musical, the highest-grossing film of 1954. A successful stage adaptation premiered in San Fransisco in 2004 and has been touring internationally ever since. Filmed in vivid Technicolor, White Christmas was the first movie ever released in VistaVision, a widescreen process using twice the surface area of standard 35mm film.

Based on the atmospheric children’s book of the same name, J.A. Bayona’s visually breathtaking fantasy centers on a boy facing the unthinkable: the inevitable death of his terminally ill mother (Felicity Jones). Sigourney Weaver co-stars in an inventive, highly emotional picture that made Bayona one of the most sought-after directors in Hollywood.

A breakout critical and commercial hit of the pandemic era, Michael Rianda’s animated sci-fi comedy is about a road-tripping family who must defend each other and all of Earth from uprising technology. The Mitchells vs. the Machines was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 94th Academy Awards. The film has been commended for relatable, inspirational inclusion of LGBTQ character Katie, voiced by Abbi Jacobson.

Paul King‘s live-action family comedy based on the beloved Michael Bond character was a huge critical and commercial success. Ben Whishaw voices the anthropomorphic bear who migrates to London, where he is adopted by the Brown family. Co-starring Nicole Kidman, Sally Hawkins, Hugh Bonneville, Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters, Paddington spawned a sequel and was nominated for Best British Film at the BAFTAs.

Jack Black enchants as the voice of Po, a once-hapless Panda who is called to action again and again. The whole Kung Fu Panda trilogy (and spinoffs) makes for terrific family entertainment—equal parts funny and dazzling. 

Spider–Man holds up quite well two decades later, thanks to great performances and a character-driven script by David Koepp (Jurassic Park). One of the biggest reasons for this trilogy’s record-setting box office success is the romance between Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) and Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). You’d be hard-pressed to find a sweeter, more relatable love story in most Oscar-winning dramas. If anything, the film works best when Spidey is out of costume. 

Most great films start with a great screenplay. Alvin Sargent, the two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter of World War II drama Julia (1977) and Robert Redford‘s Ordinary People (1980) might have seemed an unusual choice at the time to pen a Spidey screenplay, but the result is a focused, self-contained and downright exhilarating narrative. At its heart, Spider-Man 2 is all about identity and making the tough choices in life. 

Don’t let the spandex fool you; this is high drama. If the 2002 Raimi film was the point when Hollywood realized this genre could be a box office goldmine, Spider-Man 2 is when we officially had proof that a superhero movie could be a work of art.

DreamWorks Animation Studios’ critical and box-office hit sees Sam Rockwell headline an all-star voice cast in a comedy caper based on the book about anthropomorphic animals who face a collective crisis of conscience after being caught for criminal activity, facing a new foe in the process. The Bad Guys combines animation styles in a story with heart and hilarity; there’s nothing bad about it. 

Over two decades before record-breaking behemoth Wednesday made Jenna Ortega a household name, these two theatrically released family comedies offered an offbeat, lightly morbid edge. The sequel is perhaps best-known today for an extended sequence in which Wednesday Addams (Christina Ricci) goes off-book and turns a children’s Thanksgiving play into an anarchic, fiery bloodbath.

Honorable mention recommended family movies on Netflix: Sing 2 (2022), Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2009), Operation Christmas Drop (2020) and Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020).